If Walls Could Talk... A PHOTOGRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY
Photography and Design by Adenike O. Akinbisehin
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If Walls Could Talk... Dedicated to travellers, lovers of architecture, and neglected spaces.
BY ADENIKE O. AKINBISEHIN 2
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Author’s Note ‘If Walls Could Talk...’ was born from a Travel Photography project. Being a fan of geometric lines, shapes, and patterns, and with a penchant for things with a story, I found myself gravitating towards architectural landscapes that were very much invaluable characters of a town or city. My imagination would dream up the countless human and abstract stories interwoven into a place’s history; the feet, hands, conversations, strangers, trials, odd beginnings, and journeys.
what’s inside...
FEATURE STORIES.
Conversations with these walls possessed great depth and meaning. I hope this translates photographically.
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Car toogechaye Calling St. John’s Episcopal Church is located at the western end of Macon County North Carolina, in the Cartoogechaye Community. The rural nature of the area is reflected in the beauty and simplicity of the church and church grounds. The original church building was constructed in 1880 using donated land, time, and lumber. Following consecration in 1881 by Bishop Lyman, the church was called ‘St. John’s Nonah’, after the Chrokee Indian name for ‘Evergreen tree’.
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Following Reverend J. A. Deal’s departure, church membership declined, the building fell in disrepair and was torn down, with many of the graves moved to the cemetery in Franklin. However, In 1940, Reverend Rufus Morgan, whose parents were the first couple married in the original church, began an effort to rebuild a church on the original property site. Morgan’s communal efforts to collect donations, clear the grounds, saw the lumber, and recover original items from the church, led to a service being held in 1945. Today, church members continue to add their gifts and services to the church, such as these intricate hand crafted fern lamps hanging on the walls.
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Services are held at the outdoor chapel if the weather permits, and a sense of community is highly esteemed here. The church celebrates a potluck breakfast on the first Sunday of every month, with members and visitors treating each other to their signature, culinary creations.
Sunday morning services are followed by an hour of fellowship over coffee and light refreshments. Diversity is celebrated. So are canine members. 14
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Boulder Luxe The Grove Park Inn, located in Asheville, N.C., is one of the country’s most celebrated resorts. The Inn was built by Edwin Wiley Grove, owner of a pharmaceutical company manufacturing Bromo-Quinine, who upon arriving in Asheville in the 1900s, found the mild climate so much to his liking, that he purchased a large tract of land on Sunset Mountain.
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Grove had the idea for a magnificent lodge, grand enough to mirror the majesty of the mountains that would provide its foundation. The concept called for a building with the natural rough stone of the mountains surrounding the lodge. After finding that no local architects could grasp his concept, Grove entrusted his son-inlaw, Fred L. Seely, to design the building. Seely had no formal training in architecture, but undertook the project as both designer and contractor. The Grove Park Inn was completed in 11 months and 27 days, and opened on July 1, 1913.
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Through the years, the Inn has enjoyed a long and colorful history with many distinguished guests including Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and President Woodrow Wilson. Federal agencies controlled the property from 1942 to 1946 during which time the State Department used the Inn as an internment center for Axis diplomats. Philippine government officials were in exile at this time and were also located in one of the guest cottages. The United States Navy has also used the Inn as a rest and rehabilitation center.
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The unusual and striking intimacy between the building and its natural environment is one of the factors of the continued success of the Grove Park Inn and perhaps, the chief factor in its architectural significance. Native uncut granite boulders, quarried from Sunset Mountain, form the wall surfaces and chimneys of the inn. The Inn was built in five sections that join end-to-end and step terrace-like along the mountain ridge.
“Not a piece of stone is to be visible to the eye unless it showed the time-etched face given by thousands of years of sun and rain that had beaten on it.� - Edwin Wiley Grove 24
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The Marble Marketplace The Grove Arcade, one of Asheville’s architectural jewels, was envisioned by Edwin Wiley Grove, the same creator of the Grove Park Inn. You’ll notice as you enter the building that it was constructed on Battery Hill, which happens to be a slope. The building’s designers followed the topography of the land, which makes for interesting spaces and changing levels throughout. The Arcade incorporates many architectural styles and served as one of the leading commercial buildings in the city in the 1930s.
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Grove engaged architect Charles Parker to design a city within walls. Parker’s design program was simple and exhilarating: create a palace of commercial enchantment. The North and South Arcades traverse the 395 foot length of the building. 19th Century Arcades were designed as indoor cities that distilled the thrill of shopping and excluded weather, dirt, mobs, and transportation. Today, the ground level is filled with an exciting mix of galleries, shops, and restaurants. The 2nd floor is occupied by offices, and the 3rd through 5th floors house luxury apartments.
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Parker combined many architectural styles in the Arcade from Roman sculptural niches and medieval shields, to Venetian Gothic, English Paladian, and Italian Rennaisance influences. Grotesques are a form of decorative sculpture often found in or on Gothic structures. It was medieval practice to decorate column capitals and corbels of arches with grotesque heads. Spiral staircases were invented in the middle ages to make maximum use of space. The spiral staircase use one of the oldest symbols of spiritual progression in human history. Spirals represent cycles that both move forward in time and return to a beginning. Parker used the staircases for effect adding to the see-and-be-seen psychology of the Arcade.
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The Arcade innovatively used glass which absorbs infrared and ultraviolet radiation. So skylights brought the outside in safely.
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